The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference being held in San Francisco this week appeared to be the impetus for several device companies to announce new rounds of financing to support their efforts to bring products to market. Below are some highlights:
10X Genomics, which provides an innovative genomics platform, said it raised $55.5 million in Series B financing that was led by Foresite Capital Management. Also joining in the round were new and existing investors that included Venrock, Paladin Capital Group and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. So far, the company has raised a total of more than $80 million.
The company has developed a new genomics platform it claims will change the definition of sequencing. Currently, sequencing technology cannot access a significant amount of critical genetic information. The 10X platform both complements and upgrades existing short read sequencers to provide "long-range contextual" information that includes haplotyping, structural variation and de novo assembly, the company said in a release.
10X didn't say how it plans to use the new funds.
Augmedix, which uses Google Glass for its platform to reduce the number of hours physicians spend wading through data and patient records, said it received $16 million in Series A venture funding. The financing was co-led by Emergence Capital and DCM Ventures.
The company, which has so far received $23 million in total venture funding, said it will use the cash infusion to expand operations, product development and to set up new partner initiatives.
"We're proud to be making a real difference in patient satisfaction, doctor satisfaction, and health record accuracy," Ian Shakil, the company's CEO, said in a statement. "In terms of economic impact, we've repeatedly shown that our service effectively turns three doctors into four."
Ginger.io, which uses a patient's smartphone activity and self-reported information to make mental health assessments, said it raised $20 million in funding from new investor Kaiser Permanente Ventures, and previous backers Khosla Ventures and True Ventures.
The company's mobile health tool helps identify patients for whom depression is a major obstacle to following their care plan, and allows care providers a way to improve their understanding of how their behavior affects their health and provide counseling to make them feel more able to manage their condition, the company said in a release.
Joe Grimberg, a Ginger.io spokesman, told MedCity News the company plans to use a portion of the funding to expand its R&D as well as hire more staff this year. The company also plans to use its technology to track a patient's progress following hip or knee surgery.
- see the 10X release (PDF)
- check out the Augmedix release
- read the MedCity story